Monthly Archives: July 2014

What is a startup? Even though the Cypriot startup scene is at a very early stage the confusion around the definition of the term “startup” seems to be dominant. But this confusion is not limited to Cyprus, it is a problem we are seeing in other international markets too. When we are talking about startups, we are not just talking about the latest app, or tech trend or anything that comes out of San Francisco for that matter.

A startup is a relatively new company founded by an innovative idea which has potential to be built into a scalable business model. When it comes to understanding what startups do, the best answer is that they find a solution to a problem and they are developing their business so as to deliver this to the market.

The Cypriot startup ecosystem is a startup itself, one might say. Last year the country endured a bleak period when the economic crisis hit Cyprus, shaking the local banking system. The whole population, but particularly young people, started to see that they needed to be creative in order to survive and thrive. The birth of a Cypriot startup community opened the doors to unleash the talents of many creative, goal oriented, and determined people with the ambition to change the world.

Perhaps, to most disbelievers among us, changing the world is not a realistic aspiration. However, contributing to changing our small island by establishing new roots and ways of thinking for the generations to come is a glorious initiative each one of us should support. Let’s not forget that startups can help economic growth by creating new industries and new job positions, but also – thanks to technological advancement – global markets are in our reach too. A company based in Cyprus can easily operate abroad bringing significant foreign capital to the island. more